Internal-combustion engine



Oct. 27, 1925.

L. M. WOOLSON INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed July 1922 Gamma rimmed a. 27, 1925.

UNITED. STATES PATENT or-nos.

LIONEL H. WOOLSON, OI DETROIT, IIGHIIIGAN; 881G803 TO TACKABD IOTOB CA E GOIPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OI INTEBNALCOIBUSTION ENGINE.

a lication fled m 1, 1922. Serial No. 572,151.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LIONEL M. Woonson,

a citizen of the United States, and resident of Detroit, Wayne County, State of Michi- 6 gan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to internal combus- 1 tion engines and particularly to a method and means for removing some of the lighter' constituents or impurities from the lubricating oil of such engines.-

In the continued operation ofinternal combustion engines, particularly of the automobile type, the lubricating oil in the crank case becomes deficient in qualit because of water and kerosene becoming mlxed with it. The water usually reaches it through con-"- densation in the crank case andthe' kerosene more frequently comes from theli uid fuel by which the motor is operated. T e liquid fuel gets-into thecrank-case by passing the piston from the combustion chamber. Other impurities find their way into the crankcase and render the lubricating oil less eificient or sometimes positively harmful to the bearings. The usual remedy under such" conditions is -to frequently renew the crank 'case oil and in some cases attempts have been made to distill off the lighter, fractions of the oil by using the heat of the exhaust from the .p engine. One of the objections to the use of the exhaust for this purpose is that there is not sufiicient heat from the exhaust when the engine is cold or is running idle andit is at those times that dilution of the crank case oil is more usual. v

It is one of the objects of thepresent invention to provide a novel method and means for purifying the; crank case oil which will obviate the above objections and maintain the oil in the crank case in good condition for lubricating the bearings.

Another ob'ect of the invention is to provide a metho and means of the above type which will operate at its highest efliciency when the engine is running throttled:

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which the the bearin figure is a somewhat diagrammatic view illustrating a portion of an internal combustion engine and a still operated thereby, the still belng shown in section.

4 Referring to the drawings, 10 represents the cylinder block of an internal combustion engine and 11 is the crank case thereof.

In the bottom of the crank case is an oil circulating pump 12 which may be operated through. any suitable running part of the engine and a pipe 13 leads to a strainer 14 an to the bearings the oil overflows to the crank case and 1s recirculated by the pump 12. This constitutes the usual lubrication system of an internal combustion engine.

Connected to the cylinder block as by a series of bolts 15 is an intake ipe or elbow 16 in which is a throttle va ve 17 and to which is connected a carburetor 18, of any desired type.

' The engine is furnished with a fuelizer or combustion heater 19 which is shown as mounted upon'or as forming. an integral part of the elbow 16. The heatercomprises a combustion chamber20 which is subject to the suction of the engine between the throttie and the cylinders, as will 'be more fully explained hereinafter, and this chamber is fed with mixture either through a separate carburcting means or from the mixture passing through the intake (pipe 16. As shown, 86

assages 21, 22, 23 an 24 lead from theinterior of the intake pipe 16, at the outer side of the throttle valve 17, to the chamber 20, the passa 23 being small and thereby determining t e amount of mixturepassing to the chamber and the assage 24 having a screen 25 therein to brea up the mixture as it passes into the chamber. A suitable glass window 26 may be provided to observe the flame'and an air valve 27 may be used to admit a smallquantity of air. toregulate. the" proportions of air and gas in the mixture.

A spark plug 28 is provided for firing the charge in the chamber 20.-

It will beunderstood that this combustion 1w heater operates jby-reason of the engine suc-. tion drawing mixture through the passages described into the chamber 20 where it. is fired by the spark plug 28andthe products v y of combustion pass 7 into; the. engine with themixtule fr m the of the engine. From 65 om the chamber 20 carburetor. The heater is usual employed for heating the mixture and as s own, some heat will, of course, be transferred through device or still com rises an outer tank or compartment 31 an an inner tank or chamber 32 both of which are secured to a cover or head piece 33. There is an outlet from the inner tank to the outer tank indicated at 34 and a flap valve 35 closes the outlet except when pressure is brought to bear against it. The outer tank is constantly vented to the atmosphere through a pi e 36 and a vent pipe 37 and the inner tan is vented at 1ntervals through a port 38 which is controlled by a valve 39. T e inner tank or chamber has a port 40 and a pipe 41 which intermittently connects it with the intake passage 16 of the engine as shown at 42. A valve 43 controls the port 40 as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

The main lntake for the chamber 32 is through a port 44 which connects with the lower part of the crank case 11 by means of a pipe 45. There is an outlet 46 from the outer tank 31 which connects through anadjustable valve 47 and a pipe 48"w1th the crank case 11 as shown in the lower part of the figure. The device 30 is pre erabl located somewhat above the engine cran case so that the lubricating oil will flow by gravity from the outer tank 31 into the crank case and it will be raised through the pipe 45 to the chamber 32 by suction as will be hereinafter explained.

Mounted in the chamber 32 is a float 49 guided by a rod 50 and having a link 51 pivoted to it and to a pivot pin 52 on the inside of the chamber. A'nother link 53 is pivoted to the link 51 between its ends and to a link 54 which is likewise pivoted at 55 to a bracket 56 on the inside of the chamber. Another link 57 is also pivoted at 55 and is arranged to control the valves 39 and 43 above described... A tension spring 58 is connected between the outer ends of the links 54 and 57 respectively and in the position in which the parts are shown in the drawing this spring tends to pull the link 57 upwardly and conse uentl tends to close the valve 53 and open t e va ve 39. In this position of the parts the port 40 is closed so that the chamber is not afiected by the suction in the intake ipe and the port 38 .is open so that the c amber is open to the atmos here. B the connection to the float 49, when the atter dro s the link 54 is pulled down with it and spring 58 is changed so that it pulls the link 57 downwardly and thereby closes the valye 39 and opens the valve 43. In that position of the parts the port 38 is closed and the chamber is not open to the. atmosphere and the port 40 is open so that the chamber is opento the suction in the intake pipe of the engine.

rom the above description it will be understood that when the port 40 is open, that is when the float 49 is in its lower position, the suction of the engine will create a artial vacuum or sub-atmospheric pressure .1n the chamber 32 and oil will be drawn from the lubrication system or from the lower art of the crank case of the engine, throng the pipe 45. This oil will continue to be drawn into the inner tank until the float 49 reaches its upper position and moves the spring 58 to the position in which it is shown in the drawing. The valves 39 and 43 will then reverse their former positions and the port 40 will be closed and the port 38 will vent the chamber 32. This venting of the chamber will cause the oil therein to flow through the outlet 34 into the outer tank 31 and from there the oil will flow by gravity through the valve 47 and pipe 48 to the crank case. If the chamber 32 fills 2p and dumps its load faster than the valve outer tank the level of oil in the outer tank will permit the oil to run out of thewill rise until it is high enougltto maintain the float in its ,upper position. This will stop the operation of the inner chamber until enough of the oil runs out of both tanks to permit the float to drop.

The heat for the still is arranged to be under the control of the suction of the engme and to increase as the engine is throttled and to decrease as the throttle is opened. This increase of heat will also be in proportion to the decrease of pressure in the chamber 32 because both are controlled by the en ine suction.

heatin coil 59 is arranged in the chamber 32, pre erably aroimd the float 49, and the inlet end of the coil is connected by a pipe 60 with the outlet 61 of the chamber 20 of the combustion heater, above described. The outlet end of the coil 59 is connected by a pipe 62 with the intake pipe 16 between the throttle 17 and the englne, as at 63,- so that the heating pipe, and consequently the combustion heater 20, is always subject to the depressiou in the intake pipe of the en me.

t is intended that the ipe 48 shall be long enough or that it shal be connected to a cooler for the purpose of cooling the oil to any de ree desired, if such cooling is thought to e necessary.

The operation of the various parts of the device have been described above. It will the position of the-be seen that by the connections-shown the ha of the still will be increased a the engine is throttled'because at that time there is a greater suction on the combustion chamberv 20 and consequently the combustion heater will operate at its greatest efiicienc with the throttle 'valve substantially close At that time, also, there is the greatest depression in the intake pipe and consequently there will be the lowest degree of pressure in the chamber 32 of the still.

The-capacity of the combustion heater is, of course, re ulated by the size of the passage 23 whic admits mixture to the heater. For its maximum operation this passage should be large enough to supply heat for the still and to also supply some heat for the mixture of the engine so that the engine will warm up more quickly and operate with greater efiiciency. c

When the engine starts tooperate the float 49 will probably be in its lower the suction of the engine will immediately start to draw oil from the bottom of the crank case into the chamber 32 through the pipe and at the same time the combustion heater will be lighted up and its heat .will pass through the ipe 60 and the coil 59 to heat the oil in the c amber 32. This heating of .the oil will cause the lighter constituents thereof to be distilled oif and they will be carried through the pipe 41 into the I intake pipe of the engine where they will assist in the operation of the engine. The heavier body of the oil will, after the cham-' ber 32 is filled, pass into the outer tank 31 and back into the crank case. Another charge will then be drawn into the chamber 32 and the process repeated. At all times the suction of the engine controls the degree of pressure in the still. The valve 47 will control the return of the oil to the crank case and consequently govern the length of time the oil willremain in the still so that any degree of distillation required maybe. ob-

tained. p

While I have herein described in some detail a specific embodiment of m invention, which I deem to. be new and a vantageous and may 5 cifically claim, I do not desire it to be un erstood that myinvention is lim- ,ited to the exact details of the construction,

as it will be apparent that changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letteis Patent is:

1. A method of refining the lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine consisting in subjecting the oil to sub-atmospheric pressure and simultaneously to heat, controlled by the engine suction.

2. A method of refining the lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine consisting in subjecting the oil to sub-atmossition and pheric pressure and to heat, and controlling the pressure and the heat by the engine suction.

3. A method of refining the lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine consisting in subjecting the oil to sub-atmospheric pressure and to heat, and controlling the heat by the engine suction.

4. A method of refining the lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine consisting in subjecting the oil to sub-atmospheric pressure and toheat, the heat increasing as suction. p 7. A method of refining the lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine, consisting in subjecting the successive charges of the oil to sub-atmospheric pressure in a closed chamber and to a distilling heat, and controlling the degree of heat so that the heat increases as the engine is throttled and vice versa. o v

8. In an internal combustion engine, the

combination of an engine and a combustion j heater, of a still having means operated by the engine suction for circulating the engine oil through the still, and means connected to the combustion heater for supplying heat therefrom to the still.

9. In an internal combustion engine, the

combination of an engine having a lubrica- ,tion system, a still drawing ofi some of the lighter constituents of the lubrlcatmg 01], and a combustion heater for heating the still.

10. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of the lubrication system thereof, a still, means connected with the engine for creating sub-atmospheric pressure in the still, and means controlled by the engine suction for supplying heat to the still.

I 11. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a chamber, means for creating sub-atmospheric p'ressure in said chamber, means for heating said chamber, and means for controlling the pressure and the heat so that the ressure decreases as the heat increases, an vice versa.

12. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a chamber, means for creating sub-atmospheric pressure in said chamber, means for heating said chamber, and means for controlling the pressure and the I heat so that the pressure decreases and the ner chamber, and heating means for theoil 2 heat increases as' the engine is throttled.

13. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with the lubrication system in- 0 cluding means for circulating the oil from the crank case through the en ine bearin s, of means operating indepen ently of t e oil circulation means for refining the oil, said latter means comprising a chamber adapted to receive some of the oil, devices operated by the motor suction for filling and emptying the chamber, and a combustion heater for heating the chamber.

14. In an internal combustion engine, the

5;" combination of the lubrication system thereof, and a still for drawing off some of the lighter constituents of the lubricating oil, said still comprising inner and outer chambers, float operated mechanism in the inin the still surrounding the float.

15. A method of refining the lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine consisting in subjecting the oil to heat controlled by the engine suction.

16. A. method of refining the lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine consisting in circulating the oil through a heating chamber and controlling the heat of said chamber by the engine suction.

17. A inethod of refining the lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine consisting in subjecting relatively small portions of the oil of the engine to heat controlled by the engine suction.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature. LIONEL M. WOOLSON. 

